Number one my thoughts go to the Pilot who so sadly lost his life and let’s not forget that he was doing this to remember those who lost their lives at war and in peace ( learning to fly ) these aircraft . If we can rebuild a Spitfire that was buried in the sands of Calais then we can rebuild this aircraft, I’m sure the pilot who lost his life would not want the remains of it scrapped. God bless him and his family .
MK356 is eminently rebuildable. Whether BBMF will a) want to do so and/or b) be given the funds to do so is another matter. Remember they had to sell one of the Mk IXX to get the money to rebuild Hurricane LF363. If they can't/won't rebuild MK356 she will probably resurface eventually in civilian hands.
@@garycorbin2789 so the govt spends millions millions on "projects" that could be spent more effectively towards Historical venues that support patriotism and sacrifice.
If the BBMF dont rebuild mk356 then one of the other war bird resoration companies (such as Ultimate war birds) probably will. Sqn Ldr Mark Long would want this im sure ! RIP sir !
An amazing story of MK 356. Served by so many pilots and various squadrons, she brought her pilots home after combat. Retired as a gate guard and rightly restored, she continued to grace the skies. Sadly, we lost a previous pilot. Hopefully, MK 356 can be restored and continue to inspire. Bravo on this great story and great to see you back in the ‘skies’ . Looking forward to your next presentation 🤙
He wasn’t a serving RAF pilot, he was flying G-ALGT, which belonged to British Aerospace. It occurred at Woodford near Manchester, he entered a low altitude loop and ran out of altitude on the recovery, striking the runway and bursting into flames.
There have been numerous civilian fatalities in Spitfires, including Martin Sergeant who died in a Mk XI at Rouen in June 2001. The video clearly relates to RAF pilots.
Thanks for taking the time to reveal her history. RIP to the pilot Sqn Leader Mark Long.....and to all the brave pilots you mentioned who never made it back.
On a matter of technicality, only the fuselage is from the original MK356 when with BBMF. During its restoration to flight, its wings were deemed in too poor of a condition to be used and were swapped with the wings from Mk.XVI SL674, which the RAF Museum holds in its reserve collection. MK356's original wings still survive and are currently in storage in the RAFM reserve collection in Stafford.
A fascinating documentary on this iconic aircraft. Thank you for filling in so many blanks on its history and those stories of the men who flew her throughout her career. It seems all the more desperately sad that knowing how often pilots survived some extraordinary events and mishaps in these aircraft, that an experienced pilot such as Sqdn Ldr Long was so tragically killed during this particular accident. My condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and all those who work so hard and with such dedication to keep BBMF aircraft in the air as living memorials to those who served.
My condolences to the family of Squadron leader Mark Long, and to his colleagues at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Conningsby. So sad that a serving member of the RAF has given his life. Let's hope that MK 356 can be restored to flying condition and return to the BBMF at Conningsby as a memorial to Sq Lr Long.
That is beyond sick. The poor pilot has died and you think that they will want to rebuild the plane that killed him and that someone will really want to fly it?!! Unbelievable
@@TheGalwayFarmer Spitfire RM689/G-ALGT, which crashed during an air display at Woodford in 1992, killing the pilot, has been mostly rebuilt and will probably fly again. Hawker Sea Fury G-EEMV overturned on landing at Sywell in 2001, I remember it well because I flew over Sywell a couple of minutes after it happened and saw the wreckage on the runway. The pilot was killed because the armour plate had been removed from the cockpit to provide room for a jump seat. When the machine overturned, his neck was broken and he died in the accident. The aircraft was repaired and returned to flight. Many aircraft that have been involved in fatal accidents, particularly rare and valuable types, have been rebuilt and returned to flight.
Very tragic news this beautiful aircraft should go down in peace time taking the life of its pilot, RIP Squadron leader Mark Longford, have just seen news that as a direct result the whole BBMF is grounded and will miss the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Very sad. Thanks for your efforts putting this video together deepest sympathies to Squadron Leader Mark Longfords’ family.
He would have had a far better chance to save the Spitfire and himself had he bellied in on one of the many flat, fenland fields in front of him. Damage from a well executed gear up landing onto soft ground is eminently repairable. ‘Never turn back if the engine fails on takeoff’ is a lesson as old as flying itself. Sadly, every year the list of late pilots who thought that the laws of physics exclusively didn’t apply to them grows longer and longer. Attempting to turn back not only destroyed the aircraft and killed him, it also endangered the lives of people on the ground, he missed that bungalow more through luck than judgement. Good airmanship is about mitigating risk and aiming for the best possible outcome in any given situation. While the engine failure was out of his control, the outcome was within his control. He made a bad decision and inarguably showed poor airmanship.
@@Dackahthe irony is that a well executed wheels up landing on one of the many soft, flat fields that were right under his nose would have resulted in less damage to the aircraft, would have given him an excellent chance of walking away and wouldn’t have risked the lives of those on the ground. Sometimes damage is inevitable, the key to good airmanship is often weighing up the probability of the least bad outcome. I live fairly local to the BBMF and have worked out on satellite images exactly where the Spitfire crashed, only very poor decision making could have resulted in the accident occurring where it did. Piston engined warbird pilots are far better drawn from a pool of pilots with a high powered aerobatic/taildragger background, not a fast jet background.
@@Pete-tq6in Thanks Pete for your local knowledge-used to teach on light aircraft myself a long time ago with many PFL'S a long time ago befoe moving on to bigger things-but even a Boeing 737 can perform a fairly successful forced landing given the right circumstances-just don't stall it. My son visits Coningsby often, manly to see the Lancaster.. Agree with you on the Warbird pilots-just look at what happened to Black 6 when someone pulled rank and wrote off the most genuine Gustav in existence.
On 25/5/2024 the BBMF was scheduled for a flypast at Wansford station on the Nene Valley Railway following the naming of 34111 "Royal Air Force Auxiliary" by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to celebrate the formingof tbe Auxiliary in October 2024. At the time, it wasn't known why the flypast hadn't gone ahead.
Something does not add up. MK356 appeared in our hangar (RSS) at RAF Abingdon in the late 1980's. I stripped paint off the starboard rear fuselage to remove corroded skins and found bullet holes in the original skins that has been filled and painted over. I worked on her for a few weeks before going onto a cat3 repair on a Harrier at Wittering. She might have moved onto St Athan when Abingdon closed down and my unit (RSS) moved, but I never noticed as I was working on the VC10 in base hangar which I believe was the last aircraft to leave Abingdon.
To be honest, I'm much more confident about what I found in the archive documents than the post 1944 story. I didn't dwell on that part of the a/c history because I only had what was reported by secondary sources, and often they aren't 100% correct. If you worked on MK356 I'd trust your account more than mine. BTW, do you recall how big the bullet holes were? I wonder if she was the target of friend or foe.
@@CalibanRising Not an armourer, just airframes by trade, but as far as my failing memory serves me there were about three or four and I think that they must have been about 12mm or bigger. Never even raised a job card for them as the skins were corroded anyway.
The plane crashed just after taking off from the base not as it was returning to the base. It was due to do fly past over England that day but sadly did make it
Thank you for this fascinating history. Is it possible that you could post a link to the story of Donald Walz's evasion of capture and escape from occupied France? From what I have read so far, he was quite a character.
Just checked, I showed the National Archive search for 433 Squadron (Typo during a late night edit) but the ORB is for 443. You can just see a tick mark next to every MK356 on the page. Obviously I'm not the first one to look it up.
Thanks for this tribute video. I want to build a model of MK356 when it was with 443 Squadron, and I saw that full-wing and clipped-wing models appear throughout this video. Can you clarify if this was something where the wingtips were swapped out depending on the mission or did the Spitfires assigned to this squadron (or MK356 specifically) just have one variation or the other?
I did a bit more research into this after the video came out. MK356 was delivered to the RAF with the full wing set up and its replacement, which arrived on the same day it was lost, seems to have that configuration too (at some point in the video it's taxiing past some farmers). The footage I made was based on the clipped wing version the BBMF converted MK356 to, which I believe was the Post- D-Day variant operated by the squadron. So I got that bit wrong.
@@CalibanRising No worries. No less heartbreaking though. He hadn't yet climbed high enough for any ADSB receivers to pick up his signal, hence why that flight doesn't show up on any flight tracking websites. Should have been a simple off-field forced landing but the aircraft flipped over and caught fire. Not to speculate but i imagine he didn't have time to get the gear down or possibly only partly down which may have contributed to it flipping over or he may have struck something on the ground. We practice forced landings without power fairly often in general aviation but losing your engine at the beginning of the climb out is the one everyone fears. You may have 7 or 8 seconds before you're on the ground and the first 3 or 4 seconds is lost to your brain acknowledging that something is wrong. Experience counts for little when you've run out of time. 😞
A very sad day indeed and deepest condolences to Squadron leader Mark Longs family and friends. I must point out this accident happened shortly after takeoff not whilst returning to base.
Am I missing something here? I see various photo's of this particular Spitfire with both clipped wings and full wings, also with both the early smaller tail-fin and the later larger more pointed tail-fin. Can anyone explain why this is, has this particular Spitfire undergone various modifications to update/upgrade it to a later variant and then to restore it to an earlier variant?
She's had a few refits while being with the BBMF. They switched over from clipped wings to rounded tips in about 2008. For the rest I'd have to look it up.
AFAIK it was done in 2008ish when she was switched over to the 601 Squadron paint scheme. MK 356 was also given a new wing spar and restored engine but don't quote me saying it was all done during this refit.
Tragic! a very rare event. Spitfires are now very reliable due to extraordinary maintenance quality. One possibility is Engine failure on takeoff / landing which happened from time to time in the active service era. this would make it extremely difficult to land without casualty. This is only an educated guess and nothing more. nothing has been discovered and nothing has been said. Our tributes go out the this brave officer's family and friends. Rest in peace Squadron Leader Mark Long. #spitfire #veterans #fcaf #bbmf #raf #dday #crash #spitfirecrash #lincolnshire
Well a BBMF Spitfire that i think was MK2a P7350 suffered an engine failure upon landing last year and one of the Hurricanes was found to have the same fault while all BBMF aircraft were grounded
Any idea how I get operational info on an individual pilot. His service was impressive. Africa, defense of Malta, invasion of Italy and D Day. He was shot down during the 2nd week but serviced the was. Regards T.W.
If you want to drop me an email (caliban@calibanrising.com) I can give you some pointers. A lot of the operational info will be online already, but personal details need to be applied for.
I never knew pilots were so frequently shuffled between different planes.. i thought a few pilots were assigned to 1 plane, and that plane was maintained by the same mechanics. Pilots have to trust the maintenence men working on their plane, and i imagine each plane had unique characteristics to varying degrees. i certainly wouldnt enjoy getting used to the quirks of a different plane while in combat.
I read quite a few secondary sources about 443 sqdn saying that X pilot always flew Y Spitfire, but the ORB showed quite a different reality. I agree, you wouldn't want to find yourself in a dud Spit on your next Op.
I can understand it being presented at various times as a clipped wing aircraft as the tips are easi;y removed. Bu what is the deal with the profile of the fin?
You are probably right. I was working off the initial media reports for the beginning of this video. Even as I was finishing the edit new information was coming through.
That's correct she was. She was due to display at East Kirkby. She took off and unfortunately never made it to the airshow 😢 I was at the East Kirkby display when it happened
RIP. Does anyone know the route this airplane took on that day? I was in Baldock and was treated to a free flyby, just wanted to know if one of the four aircraft that flew over was this one.
Excellent video, but such a shocking and sad event.. I know we shouldn’t speculate on the cause of the fatality, but there didn’t seem to be any signs of fire.. Perhaps just an engine failure and Mark tried to get her down.. Blue Skies Sqd Ldr Mark Long, MK356 Lest we Forget
I see people already speculating. He was taking off...he was coming home....the impossible turn... This is all unhelpful as there is no definitive evidence of what happened and what, exactly, the pilot was dealing with, how much time he had or what he could see in front of him given the Spitfire's notoriously bad visibility forward and down under that long nose.
There are certain facts that can be readily discerned from the photographs that have been released. One is that the aircraft hit the ground at a steep angle, because there’s no damage to the foliage or building directly beside the crash site. Another is that the aircraft was in a spin when it hit the ground, because it exhibits damage characteristic with a spin impact, the fuselage collapsing and twisting at the cockpit. Mercifully there was no fire. The exact crash location can be determined from the building in the background and the photograph of the emergency services response. This can be compared with Google Street View. The impact point was in the garden of a bungalow on Langrick Road, just north of the turn off to The Hutton’s Farm, to the South East of the extended centreline of the departure runway. The wind speed and direction can be obtained from weather archives so the runway in use can also be easily established (it was 07). The area available for an emergency landing at the end of the runway can be seen from a satellite image and the pilot, having flown with the BBMF for four years, would have been intimately acquainted with the surrounding landscape. I live locally and most of the county is ideal for emergency landings. It was ‘Bomber County’ during WWII for a very good reason. In a power off, gliding attitude, with the nose pointing down to maintain best glide speed, the pilot would have had an adequate view of the landscape ahead, the visibility from the Spitfire is only particularly limited when in a nose high/three point attitude, such as when flaring to land or approaching a carrier deck with higher power settings on the back of the drag curve. With the information available, the type of impact and the location of the crash, it’s clear that the pilot attempted to return to his departure runway following a loss of power. He was in a right turn and dropped a wing, entering a spin to the right and crashed only about twenty feet from a residential dwelling. This isn’t speculation, this is information that can be easily gleaned by anyone with a good understanding of aviation and with internet access.
All guesswork and speculation based on assumption. If the aircraft was in a steep nose down angle why does there appear to be minimal damage to the prop boss? In the end, you and others may be spot on...but it's still speculation unless you have access to facts. Incidentally, I too geolocated the site and viewed it.
@@johngrantham8024 the aircraft spun in, the propeller blades are ripped off. It could have been at quite a flat attitude when it struck the ground. The lack of damage to the surrounding structures and foliage indicate that it didn’t slide into the position it ended up in. Also, the damage is congruent with a spin. The location of the crash could only be explained by the pilot attempting to return to RAF Coningsby following an engine failure on takeoff. The reports so far have stated that it happened shortly after takeoff so that’s certainly not speculation. The crash site is not speculation. The damage to the aircraft is not speculation. We all have access to certain facts, what we can discern from those facts is based on our individual knowledge and experience.
@@CalibanRising the best way to tell the E from the C mark is if the cannon is mounted to the right or left of the 50 cal machine gun. The Mk IXc will have the cannon on the inside of the machine gun. I really enjoy your program by the way Cheers
Thankyou for at least putting the effort into finding the correct pronunciation of the Frog words. (Now, I'm half of one FYI, and am not a fluent speaker ) It annoys the hell out of me when people with letters after their name pronounce place names such as 'Grenobles' with received english pronunciation - when the correct pronunciation is along of the lines of Gren-ohr-blhh..
@@markhepworth Park, Start & Taxi ONLY. These War Birds are too precious to risk. Each exhibit can have a top quality video & audio system to document how these amazing, historic machines flew & sounded.
The Canadian Lancaster flew over my house today. That is a sound you can only hear in flight. Same with Spitfires or any other warbird. They flew these aircraft with defects that would ground them today until repaired. BBMF takes extremely good care of their aircraft. The loss of a pilot and an aircraft is terrible. The aircraft can be rebuilt, the pilot cannot.
Ye canna change the laws of physics, but ya can change the military phonetic spellings through the decades - and even change them between service branches in both the UK and USA.
Don't know if this will allow a URL to be posted, but this NATO page may be of interest, www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_136216.htm A bit from it, "In the 1920s, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) produced the first phonetic alphabet to be recognized internationally. It featured names of cities across the globe. Amsterdam, Baltimore, Casablanca, Denmark, Edison, Florida, Gallipoli, Havana, Italia, Jerusalem, Kilogramme, Liverpool, Madagascar, New York, Oslo, Paris, Quebec, Roma, Santiago, Tripoli, Uppsala, Valencia, Washington, Xanthippe, Yokohama, Zurich. On the military side, the United States adopted a Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet, called the Able Baker alphabet after the first two code words, across all of its military branches in 1941. Two years later, the British Royal Air Force decided to use the Able Baker alphabet as well. Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, How, Item, Jig, King, Love, Mike, Nan, Oboe, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Tare, Uncle, Victor, William, X-ray, Yoke, Zebra A common criticism of these alphabets was that they were rather English in composition. A new version incorporating sounds common to English, French, and Spanish was proposed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and came into effect on 1 November 1951 for civil aviation only. It is similar to the one used today. Alfa, Bravo, Coca, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Gold, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Metro, Nectar, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Union, Victor, Whiskey, eXtra, Yankee, Zulu As militaries and NATO continued to follow the Able Baker phonetic alphabet, it was clear the need for a universal phonetic alphabet still remained. A review of the Able Baker alphabet, spearheaded by NATO Allies US and UK, was conducted."
It can be rebuilt to fly again and I can think of at least two involved in fatal crashes that have flown again including the PR XI owned by ARCO at Duxford. BBMF may struggle to get the funding of they want to. If not, it'll probably end up in private hands.
i had a flight in a P 51 with stick time. Later i heard, she were involved in a crash, similar to this. A man dies too, in it. They built it up, again. R.I.P. to the pilot, i think it`s to soon for making decissions. My deep condolences to the family and the RAF Unit. So sad.
Here’s to this bloke! There no restoration the bird is gone And so Is a good man. So they both went out doing what they did, this is a tragedy but it fits, they have joined the immortals.
Other than your rather quick act of condolence, it appears that you're just cashing in on a tragic loss of life. This video could of waited as your timing and intent is distasteful and poor. Hope you donate any revenue generated from this goes to a worthy cause
I appreciate your point of view but your comment is quite unfair. As ever, if you don't like it, don't watch my video, don't watch any news coverage and avoid the newspapers.
I can see both sides of the argument you make. Almost all of the UA-cam producers are desperate to make more and more content, and they have mined just about everything from the past history of the entire world, mostly plagiarizing. On the other hand this is news, and that’s all they have left to go after, so they go after it with gusto! I’m not arguing against what you said. You are probably right
Again, someone else who thinks the plane is more important than the poor pilot who lost his life. D-Day veteran? Give me a break. About 70-80% of it will have been new-build!!!
@@markhammerschmidt5315 I trained for 2 1/2 years in aviation maintenance. Planes that old are just too corroded and fatigue cracked not to mention the technology of the day was not that reliable. There aren't enough of these planes left and should be considered national treasures.
@@dwightnix893 there’s more spitfires now than there ever was. There’s literally dozens of them. They are meant to fly! Plenty already left in static displays in museums.
@@dwightnix893 you don’t know that metal fatigue caused this crash. Could just as easily have been pilot error or an engine malfunction (only one engine) so your 2.5 years of training is rather irrelevant as expertise to be frank. If you had 20-30 years of experience I might take what you say as having more substance. These AC are not flying around with 80 year old original corroded parts, most have been all but completely remanufactured for exactly that reason, and if you think the Royal Air Force would send up one of its pilots in a corroded AC then I respectfully suggest you think again!
@@markhammerschmidt5315 By the time production ended at Castle Bromwich in June 1945, a total of 12,129 Spitfires had been built. These included 921 Mk IIs, 4,489 Mk Vs, 5,665 Mk IXs, and 1,054 Mk XVIs. today, just a handful of these (around 60) are still airworthy.
Bit too quick out of the blocks with this one! The Unit and Coningsby are still very much in mourning for the loss of Sqn Ldr Mark Long. No one cares about the bloody aircraft! 👎🏻 Lincolnshire.
I don't believe you are going on about the aircraft when thr Pilot has died. At least wait until after the family have grieved and the full investigation has taken place. There is a time for this and now isn't that time. There is no possible reason to publish this piece now. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Particularly when the armchair experts on here are slagging off the pilot when they have zero knowledge of the facts until the enquiry concludes. it makes me sick.
I appreciate your point of view Neil. If you don't want to watch the video you don't have to. I've made no mention of S/L Long except to report that he sadly passed away. I have no regrets finding out about the No. 443 squadron chaps who flew MK356 over Normandy, many of whom also lost their lives. Perhaps I am a little' desensitised' to reports of death. Every video I make is about one or more people losing their life and it never seems less tragic even after 80 years.
Flying will always be risky and people get killed. That is just a fact. I find nothing offensive or shameful at all in this video. The people who flew this Spitfire especially in combat risked their life. Yet they did their duty knowing the risk. By comparison I am not at all impressed by keyboard warriors. This is the first video I've watched on this channel. If I didn't like it I would just go away without leaving a "like". I wouldn't try to censor it. Nobody forced me (or you) to watch it. And I echo the respect paid by the channel host to the pilots who flew this aircraft including Squadron Leader Mark Long.
Very sad. These old airplanes were never designed and constructed to be used 80 years later. There needs to be a facility were complete new-built replicas can be made. It is vital to keep the memory and tradition alive. But it must be safe. Flying these old relics is just an accident waiting to happen.
These are thoughts I've been harbouring, you sum it up perfectly. The cost of remaking new ones would be astronomical, but what's that compared to the loss of a precious historical war machine. If the planes were humans, they'd have been pensioned off and put on show as static memorials. It saddens me every time I hear of an incident like this. It's time to re-evaluate.
they are basically new built aircraft, they need a data plate from an historic aircraft gives them a permit to fly, otherwise they'd have to be certified as experimental aircraft which would be even more expensive to do.
![Restoring a Junkyard D-Day C-47 Plane [ALL PARTS] | That's All Brother | Spark](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KFANRe3ORPE/mqdefault.jpg)
Number one my thoughts go to the Pilot who so sadly lost his life and let’s not forget that he was doing this to remember those who lost their lives at war and in peace ( learning to fly ) these aircraft . If we can rebuild a Spitfire that was buried in the sands of Calais then we can rebuild this aircraft, I’m sure the pilot who lost his life would not want the remains of it scrapped. God bless him and his family .
MK356 is eminently rebuildable. Whether BBMF will a) want to do so and/or b) be given the funds to do so is another matter. Remember they had to sell one of the Mk IXX to get the money to rebuild Hurricane LF363.
If they can't/won't rebuild MK356 she will probably resurface eventually in civilian hands.
@@johngrantham8024 TBH I never even thought about the money 🥴🤦♂️
It's a shame that they have to fight for funding it should be fully funded by the government. I can think of no better cause than this
@@garycorbin2789 so the govt spends millions millions on "projects" that could be spent more effectively towards Historical venues that support patriotism and sacrifice.
If the BBMF dont rebuild mk356 then one of the other war bird resoration companies (such as Ultimate war birds) probably will. Sqn Ldr Mark Long would want this im sure ! RIP sir !
Sad, but it's amazing how much information you put together in such a short time. RIP to the pilot.
It's terrible news and I wish I had started down this rabbit hole under better circumstances. Thanks for watching.
There is a website for Spitfire pilots.
Gone home.. At least what better way to go than doing something you love.
Plane must be rebuilt , can't lose her now ....
This plane HAS to be repaired at all costs!
RIP the pilot, very sad
Beautiful plane... Such a loss... And condolences to the poor pilot involved in the crash :(
An amazing story of MK 356. Served by so many pilots and various squadrons, she brought her pilots home after combat. Retired as a gate guard and rightly restored, she continued to grace the skies. Sadly, we lost a previous pilot. Hopefully, MK 356 can be restored and continue to inspire. Bravo on this great story and great to see you back in the ‘skies’ . Looking forward to your next presentation 🤙
The last Spitfire pilot to die before this tragic incident was David Morgan in 1992. He was a good friend of my grandfather.
In a Spitfire ?
He wasn’t a serving RAF pilot, he was flying G-ALGT, which belonged to British Aerospace.
It occurred at Woodford near Manchester, he entered a low altitude loop and ran out of altitude on the recovery, striking the runway and bursting into flames.
There have been numerous civilian fatalities in Spitfires, including Martin Sergeant who died in a Mk XI at Rouen in June 2001. The video clearly relates to RAF pilots.
@@Sam_Green____4114 Yes.
@@Pete-tq6in I didn't say he was an RAF pilot. It makes no difference. He still died in a Spitfire sadly.
Thanks for taking the time to reveal her history. RIP to the pilot Sqn Leader Mark Long.....and to all the brave pilots you mentioned who never made it back.
On a matter of technicality, only the fuselage is from the original MK356 when with BBMF. During its restoration to flight, its wings were deemed in too poor of a condition to be used and were swapped with the wings from Mk.XVI SL674, which the RAF Museum holds in its reserve collection. MK356's original wings still survive and are currently in storage in the RAFM reserve collection in Stafford.
A fascinating documentary on this iconic aircraft. Thank you for filling in so many blanks on its history and those stories of the men who flew her throughout her career.
It seems all the more desperately sad that knowing how often pilots survived some extraordinary events and mishaps in these aircraft, that an experienced pilot such as Sqdn Ldr Long was so tragically killed during this particular accident.
My condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and all those who work so hard and with such dedication to keep BBMF aircraft in the air as living memorials to those who served.
You've done this delicate story with upmost respect to the lost pilot. Thank you.
Thank you too!
My condolences to the family of Squadron leader Mark Long, and to his colleagues at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Conningsby. So sad that a serving member of the RAF has given his life. Let's hope that MK 356 can be restored to flying condition and return to the BBMF at Conningsby as a memorial to Sq Lr Long.
That is beyond sick. The poor pilot has died and you think that they will want to rebuild the plane that killed him and that someone will really want to fly it?!! Unbelievable
@@TheGalwayFarmer Spitfire RM689/G-ALGT, which crashed during an air display at Woodford in 1992, killing the pilot, has been mostly rebuilt and will probably fly again. Hawker Sea Fury G-EEMV overturned on landing at Sywell in 2001, I remember it well because I flew over Sywell a couple of minutes after it happened and saw the wreckage on the runway. The pilot was killed because the armour plate had been removed from the cockpit to provide room for a jump seat. When the machine overturned, his neck was broken and he died in the accident. The aircraft was repaired and returned to flight. Many aircraft that have been involved in fatal accidents, particularly rare and valuable types, have been rebuilt and returned to flight.
Not as unbelievable as your totally disproportionate response.
This plane not only had pointed and clipped wings, the tail was round first, and then pointed...
Yes indeed very sad news.
Most "restored" aircraft are actually new builds. This could be the case again.
Wrong.
they will get the plate and rebuild it no doubt. RIP to the pilot.
Amazingly detailed research. Thanks for sharing. Not met your channel before so ive subbed to see a bit more. 👍👍👍
Thanks Robert, hope you enjoy the rest of my content.
Excellent video. Well researched and presented. Dignity correctly observed Thank you.
Thank you very much John and thank you for watching.
Sincere condolences to family and friends. I am sure that at the appropriate time the aircraft will be returned to service.
Watched from Old Harbour Jamaica 🇯🇲, very interesting.
Thanks for watching
Heart sunk when I saw this news story the other day & her RCAF history made her quite intriguing
sorry for the loss of Mark Long
R.I.P Mark the pilot angel's on your shoulders 🪽 always sad day condolences to your family and friends at this sad time 🙏🤝🕊️
The airframe has a history unique to her which I didn't know at all! So tha k you for shearing this with us all.
Rest in peace sir.
Amazing story hopefully MK356 would be send for repairs to Duxford or Biggin hill and fly again in 6 or 10 years time RIP Mark Long.
Sad to hear. RIP S/L Long 💐. My condolences to the family.
Many thanx for a GR8 vid. 👍👍
It'll be interesting to see the accident report when it comes out
Extremely sad news RIP Mark Long. Condolences to his family.
the impossible turn
Very tragic news this beautiful aircraft should go down in peace time taking the life of its pilot, RIP Squadron leader Mark Longford, have just seen news that as a direct result the whole BBMF is grounded and will miss the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Very sad.
Thanks for your efforts putting this video together deepest sympathies to Squadron Leader Mark Longfords’ family.
Very interesting story, thanks for that. RIP Sqn Ldr Mark Long
Very sad-never attempt to turn back to the field in the event of engine failure, even if you are trying gallantly to save a Spitfire.
He would have had a far better chance to save the Spitfire and himself had he bellied in on one of the many flat, fenland fields in front of him. Damage from a well executed gear up landing onto soft ground is eminently repairable.
‘Never turn back if the engine fails on takeoff’ is a lesson as old as flying itself. Sadly, every year the list of late pilots who thought that the laws of physics exclusively didn’t apply to them grows longer and longer.
Attempting to turn back not only destroyed the aircraft and killed him, it also endangered the lives of people on the ground, he missed that bungalow more through luck than judgement.
Good airmanship is about mitigating risk and aiming for the best possible outcome in any given situation. While the engine failure was out of his control, the outcome was within his control. He made a bad decision and inarguably showed poor airmanship.
@@Pete-tq6in You are absolutely correct, but in the urgency of the moment I think he cared too much for the Spitfire and not enough for himself. Sad.
@@Dackahthe irony is that a well executed wheels up landing on one of the many soft, flat fields that were right under his nose would have resulted in less damage to the aircraft, would have given him an excellent chance of walking away and wouldn’t have risked the lives of those on the ground. Sometimes damage is inevitable, the key to good airmanship is often weighing up the probability of the least bad outcome.
I live fairly local to the BBMF and have worked out on satellite images exactly where the Spitfire crashed, only very poor decision making could have resulted in the accident occurring where it did.
Piston engined warbird pilots are far better drawn from a pool of pilots with a high powered aerobatic/taildragger background, not a fast jet background.
@@Pete-tq6in Thanks Pete for your local knowledge-used to teach on light aircraft myself a long time ago with many PFL'S a long time ago befoe moving on to bigger things-but even a Boeing 737 can perform a fairly successful forced landing given the right circumstances-just don't stall it. My son visits Coningsby often, manly to see the Lancaster..
Agree with you on the Warbird pilots-just look at what happened to Black 6 when someone pulled rank and wrote off the most genuine Gustav in existence.
@@Pete-tq6inI think you should wait and find out the details before you hang,draw and quarter the pilot...
On 25/5/2024 the BBMF was scheduled for a flypast at Wansford station on the Nene Valley Railway following the naming of 34111 "Royal Air Force Auxiliary" by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to celebrate the formingof tbe Auxiliary in October 2024. At the time, it wasn't known why the flypast hadn't gone ahead.
Something does not add up. MK356 appeared in our hangar (RSS) at RAF Abingdon in the late 1980's. I stripped paint off the starboard rear fuselage to remove corroded skins and found bullet holes in the original skins that has been filled and painted over. I worked on her for a few weeks before going onto a cat3 repair on a Harrier at Wittering.
She might have moved onto St Athan when Abingdon closed down and my unit (RSS) moved, but I never noticed as I was working on the VC10 in base hangar which I believe was the last aircraft to leave Abingdon.
To be honest, I'm much more confident about what I found in the archive documents than the post 1944 story. I didn't dwell on that part of the a/c history because I only had what was reported by secondary sources, and often they aren't 100% correct. If you worked on MK356 I'd trust your account more than mine. BTW, do you recall how big the bullet holes were? I wonder if she was the target of friend or foe.
@@CalibanRising Not an armourer, just airframes by trade, but as far as my failing memory serves me there were about three or four and I think that they must have been about 12mm or bigger. Never even raised a job card for them as the skins were corroded anyway.
The plane crashed just after taking off from the base not as it was returning to the base. It was due to do fly past over England that day but sadly did make it
Thanks for the correction. That information was public while I was researching the video.
Thank you for this fascinating history. Is it possible that you could post a link to the story of Donald Walz's evasion of capture and escape from occupied France? From what I have read so far, he was quite a character.
This dedicated blog had a lot of information about Don Walz: 443squadron.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/art-sagers-collection-don-walz-missing/
@@CalibanRising Much appreciated - thanks!
I did notice that it did lose its clipped wings.
rip to pilot and deepest to the famaly
Carrying out the impossible turn depends what height and what distance from take off point.
It's all speculation until final report.
Tragic loss.
You show the orb scans of 433 squadron, is this just an example of what they look like?
Just checked, I showed the National Archive search for 433 Squadron (Typo during a late night edit) but the ORB is for 443. You can just see a tick mark next to every MK356 on the page. Obviously I'm not the first one to look it up.
Thanks for this tribute video. I want to build a model of MK356 when it was with 443 Squadron, and I saw that full-wing and clipped-wing models appear throughout this video. Can you clarify if this was something where the wingtips were swapped out depending on the mission or did the Spitfires assigned to this squadron (or MK356 specifically) just have one variation or the other?
I did a bit more research into this after the video came out. MK356 was delivered to the RAF with the full wing set up and its replacement, which arrived on the same day it was lost, seems to have that configuration too (at some point in the video it's taxiing past some farmers).
The footage I made was based on the clipped wing version the BBMF converted MK356 to, which I believe was the Post- D-Day variant operated by the squadron. So I got that bit wrong.
He wasn't returning, it was an engine failure on climb out from RNW07 at Conningsby.
Thanks for the correction Andy. That information wasn't available when producing the video.
@@CalibanRising No worries. No less heartbreaking though. He hadn't yet climbed high enough for any ADSB receivers to pick up his signal, hence why that flight doesn't show up on any flight tracking websites. Should have been a simple off-field forced landing but the aircraft flipped over and caught fire. Not to speculate but i imagine he didn't have time to get the gear down or possibly only partly down which may have contributed to it flipping over or he may have struck something on the ground. We practice forced landings without power fairly often in general aviation but losing your engine at the beginning of the climb out is the one everyone fears. You may have 7 or 8 seconds before you're on the ground and the first 3 or 4 seconds is lost to your brain acknowledging that something is wrong. Experience counts for little when you've run out of time. 😞
A very sad day indeed and deepest condolences to Squadron leader Mark Longs family and friends. I must point out this accident happened shortly after takeoff not whilst returning to base.
Indeed. Thanks for the correction. This information wasn't being reported at the time of recording.
Change of tail fins during its time at BBMF?
Bravo. & Vale.
I wonder if a turn back stall and spiral.
Am I missing something here? I see various photo's of this particular Spitfire with both clipped wings and full wings, also with both the early smaller tail-fin and the later larger more pointed tail-fin. Can anyone explain why this is, has this particular Spitfire undergone various modifications to update/upgrade it to a later variant and then to restore it to an earlier variant?
She's had a few refits while being with the BBMF. They switched over from clipped wings to rounded tips in about 2008. For the rest I'd have to look it up.
The tail unit shape seemed to change on some of the photos , was it updated to a newer unit ?
Yes, it underwent quite a few adaptations over the years.
When did BBMF add the eliptical wing tips? I remember seeing this aircraft many times with its original clipped wings!
AFAIK it was done in 2008ish when she was switched over to the 601 Squadron paint scheme. MK 356 was also given a new wing spar and restored engine but don't quote me saying it was all done during this refit.
Thanks 👍
Tragic! a very rare event. Spitfires are now very reliable due to extraordinary maintenance quality. One possibility is Engine failure on takeoff / landing which happened from time to time in the active service era. this would make it extremely difficult to land without casualty. This is only an educated guess and nothing more. nothing has been discovered and nothing has been said. Our tributes go out the this brave officer's family and friends. Rest in peace Squadron Leader Mark Long. #spitfire #veterans #fcaf #bbmf #raf #dday #crash #spitfirecrash #lincolnshire
Well a BBMF Spitfire that i think was MK2a P7350 suffered an engine failure upon landing last year and one of the Hurricanes was found to have the same fault while all BBMF aircraft were grounded
Any idea how I get operational info on an individual pilot. His service was impressive. Africa, defense of Malta, invasion of Italy and D Day. He was shot down during the 2nd week but serviced the was. Regards T.W.
If you want to drop me an email (caliban@calibanrising.com) I can give you some pointers. A lot of the operational info will be online already, but personal details need to be applied for.
You have confused me in referring to 443 Squadron, but the screen shot of the records is for 433 squadron.
Sorry, just a typo. 433 was actually a bomber squadron I was researching earlier and came up automatically. This was a late night editing session. 😜
You made a video on it did you make the video before or after I mentioned it in one of your posts?
Edit: my bad I didn't see your video on it
Godspeed, Mark.
Something broke 😢😢
I never knew pilots were so frequently shuffled between different planes.. i thought a few pilots were assigned to 1 plane, and that plane was maintained by the same mechanics.
Pilots have to trust the maintenence men working on their plane, and i imagine each plane had unique characteristics to varying degrees.
i certainly wouldnt enjoy getting used to the quirks of a different plane while in combat.
I read quite a few secondary sources about 443 sqdn saying that X pilot always flew Y Spitfire, but the ORB showed quite a different reality.
I agree, you wouldn't want to find yourself in a dud Spit on your next Op.
I can understand it being presented at various times as a clipped wing aircraft as the tips are easi;y removed. Bu what is the deal with the profile of the fin?
I thought the Spitfire was en route to a display..rather than returning..anyhow, a sad, sad day..
You are probably right. I was working off the initial media reports for the beginning of this video. Even as I was finishing the edit new information was coming through.
That's correct she was. She was due to display at East Kirkby. She took off and unfortunately never made it to the airshow 😢 I was at the East Kirkby display when it happened
🕊️
RIP. Does anyone know the route this airplane took on that day? I was in Baldock and was treated to a free flyby, just wanted to know if one of the four aircraft that flew over was this one.
23.00,23.23 different tail planes?????
Is it me or has the tail vertical surfaces changed over time?
Far too early to speculate on the cause of the accident but one thing I did notice looking at the wreckage was little or no evidence of fire.
We'll know in due course.
That's my pic you've used (the pic of it landing at Duxford painted silver).
Really? Do you recall where you took it?
@@CalibanRisingerr Duxford!
Sue him for copyright breach
@@CalibanRising Don't sweat it- you're welcome to use it.
@@SimonWallwork Thanks. I appreciate it.
Excellent video, but such a shocking and sad event.. I know we shouldn’t speculate on the cause of the fatality, but there didn’t seem to be any signs of fire.. Perhaps just an engine failure and Mark tried to get her down..
Blue Skies Sqd Ldr Mark Long, MK356
Lest we Forget
dreadful news ...... am curious though to understand how the tail section keep changing shape?
Tragic news. Commiserations.
Lost power on take off pilot's name has been released
No comment on when and where the wingtips were put on and off?
2008
I applied three times to serve on BBMF but sadly never got selected. I was based next door on 229. Very sad news 😢
Rest in peace Mark.
Sad loss of a nine.
I see people already speculating. He was taking off...he was coming home....the impossible turn... This is all unhelpful as there is no definitive evidence of what happened and what, exactly, the pilot was dealing with, how much time he had or what he could see in front of him given the Spitfire's notoriously bad visibility forward and down under that long nose.
There are certain facts that can be readily discerned from the photographs that have been released.
One is that the aircraft hit the ground at a steep angle, because there’s no damage to the foliage or building directly beside the crash site.
Another is that the aircraft was in a spin when it hit the ground, because it exhibits damage characteristic with a spin impact, the fuselage collapsing and twisting at the cockpit. Mercifully there was no fire.
The exact crash location can be determined from the building in the background and the photograph of the emergency services response. This can be compared with Google Street View. The impact point was in the garden of a bungalow on Langrick Road, just north of the turn off to The Hutton’s Farm, to the South East of the extended centreline of the departure runway.
The wind speed and direction can be obtained from weather archives so the runway in use can also be easily established (it was 07).
The area available for an emergency landing at the end of the runway can be seen from a satellite image and the pilot, having flown with the BBMF for four years, would have been intimately acquainted with the surrounding landscape. I live locally and most of the county is ideal for emergency landings. It was ‘Bomber County’ during WWII for a very good reason.
In a power off, gliding attitude, with the nose pointing down to maintain best glide speed, the pilot would have had an adequate view of the landscape ahead, the visibility from the Spitfire is only particularly limited when in a nose high/three point attitude, such as when flaring to land or approaching a carrier deck with higher power settings on the back of the drag curve.
With the information available, the type of impact and the location of the crash, it’s clear that the pilot attempted to return to his departure runway following a loss of power. He was in a right turn and dropped a wing, entering a spin to the right and crashed only about twenty feet from a residential dwelling. This isn’t speculation, this is information that can be easily gleaned by anyone with a good understanding of aviation and with internet access.
All guesswork and speculation based on assumption. If the aircraft was in a steep nose down angle why does there appear to be minimal damage to the prop boss?
In the end, you and others may be spot on...but it's still speculation unless you have access to facts. Incidentally, I too geolocated the site and viewed it.
@@johngrantham8024 the aircraft spun in, the propeller blades are ripped off. It could have been at quite a flat attitude when it struck the ground. The lack of damage to the surrounding structures and foliage indicate that it didn’t slide into the position it ended up in. Also, the damage is congruent with a spin.
The location of the crash could only be explained by the pilot attempting to return to RAF Coningsby following an engine failure on takeoff.
The reports so far have stated that it happened shortly after takeoff so that’s certainly not speculation.
The crash site is not speculation. The damage to the aircraft is not speculation.
We all have access to certain facts, what we can discern from those facts is based on our individual knowledge and experience.
@@Pete-tq6in Until the official findings are released it is still speculation, whichever way you look at it.
@@terrystevens5261whatever your opinion of my observations are, I’m confident that they’ll be proved correct.
Sad, but ye canny change the laws of physics.
What mark of Spit was it? Looks like either a late Mk IX or Mk XVI.
Yep, Mk IX. Some sources say it's a IXc some a IXe, so I can be sure about the exact variant. I'm sure someone else will be able to tell us.
@@CalibanRising the best way to tell the E from the C mark is if the cannon is mounted to the right or left of the 50 cal machine gun. The Mk IXc will have the cannon on the inside of the machine gun. I really enjoy your program by the way
Cheers
@@Liddledriver That is a great little tip. looking at its latest incarnation it seems to have the IXe wing.
What is noble strike?
"No-ball". It's an attack on a V-1 launch site said in a lazy London accent.
@@CalibanRising Got it...😁
I wondered why the BBMF fly past was canceled at WW2 military display at Ironbridge in Shropshire on 25th May...
Thankyou for at least putting the effort into finding the correct pronunciation of the Frog words. (Now, I'm half of one FYI, and am not a fluent speaker ) It annoys the hell out of me when people with letters after their name pronounce place names such as 'Grenobles' with received english pronunciation - when the correct pronunciation is along of the lines of Gren-ohr-blhh..
No worries. I am a French speaker after living there for 6 years, but never got rid of the pomme de terre anglaise dans ma bouche. 😉
@@CalibanRising How I could go a good Steak au poivre with Pomme Frites right now.. You have to get the Green Peppercorns in that little can
👍👍👍
RIP to the Sqn Leader Mark Long. You'll be missed sir.
be honest, loads of pilots not many Spitfires...
Park `em; don`t fly `em ! These rare, precious works-of-art should be museum pieces now....
Plenty of non flying Spitfires in museums.
@@markhepworth Park, Start & Taxi ONLY. These War Birds are too precious to risk. Each exhibit can have a top quality video & audio system to document how these amazing, historic machines flew & sounded.
The Canadian Lancaster flew over my house today. That is a sound you can only hear in flight. Same with Spitfires or any other warbird.
They flew these aircraft with defects that would ground them today until repaired. BBMF takes extremely good care of their aircraft. The loss of a pilot and an aircraft is terrible. The aircraft can be rebuilt, the pilot cannot.
Good video. If you are going to use the phonetic alphabet, please use it correctly ‘I’ is not ‘Item’, it’s ‘India’.
Thanks for watching. That was intentional. In 1944 it was 'Item'.
Ye canna change the laws of physics, but ya can change the military phonetic spellings through the decades - and even change them between service branches in both the UK and USA.
Don't know if this will allow a URL to be posted, but this NATO page may be of interest, www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_136216.htm A bit from it, "In the 1920s, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) produced the first phonetic alphabet to be recognized internationally. It featured names of cities across the globe.
Amsterdam, Baltimore, Casablanca, Denmark, Edison, Florida, Gallipoli, Havana, Italia, Jerusalem, Kilogramme, Liverpool, Madagascar, New York, Oslo, Paris, Quebec, Roma, Santiago, Tripoli, Uppsala, Valencia, Washington, Xanthippe, Yokohama, Zurich.
On the military side, the United States adopted a Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet, called the Able Baker alphabet after the first two code words, across all of its military branches in 1941. Two years later, the British Royal Air Force decided to use the Able Baker alphabet as well.
Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, How, Item, Jig, King, Love, Mike, Nan, Oboe, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Tare, Uncle, Victor, William, X-ray, Yoke, Zebra
A common criticism of these alphabets was that they were rather English in composition. A new version incorporating sounds common to English, French, and Spanish was proposed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and came into effect on 1 November 1951 for civil aviation only. It is similar to the one used today.
Alfa, Bravo, Coca, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Gold, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Metro, Nectar, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Union, Victor, Whiskey, eXtra, Yankee, Zulu
As militaries and NATO continued to follow the Able Baker phonetic alphabet, it was clear the need for a universal phonetic alphabet still remained. A review of the Able Baker alphabet, spearheaded by NATO Allies US and UK, was conducted."
@@CalibanRising Fair enough - might pay to mention that in the future so that we pedants don’t curl up in the corner in the foetal position. 😂
@@MrDyhard 😉
It was actually getting airborne, not returning.
Thanks for the correction. It was not clearly reported when I recorded the video.
rip .
Is it beyond repair ? Even for static display! (Let us not forget someone died in it which is more of a loss ! )
It can be rebuilt to fly again and I can think of at least two involved in fatal crashes that have flown again including the PR XI owned by ARCO at Duxford. BBMF may struggle to get the funding of they want to. If not, it'll probably end up in private hands.
i had a flight in a P 51 with stick time. Later i heard, she were involved in a crash, similar to this. A man dies too, in it. They built it up, again. R.I.P. to the pilot, i think it`s to soon for making decissions. My deep condolences to the family and the RAF Unit. So sad.
Fully repairable to flying condition but that lies with the MoD.
Here’s to this bloke!
There no restoration
the bird is gone
And so Is a good man.
So they both went out doing what they did, this is a tragedy but it fits, they have joined the immortals.
I thought this was going to be about a woman pilot .
It wasn't very frightening? You better knock...on wood. 😉
lol
Other than your rather quick act of condolence, it appears that you're just cashing in on a tragic loss of life. This video could of waited as your timing and intent is distasteful and poor. Hope you donate any revenue generated from this goes to a worthy cause
I appreciate your point of view but your comment is quite unfair. As ever, if you don't like it, don't watch my video, don't watch any news coverage and avoid the newspapers.
I can see both sides of the argument you make.
Almost all of the UA-cam producers are desperate to make more and more content, and they have mined just about everything from the past history of the entire world, mostly plagiarizing.
On the other hand this is news, and that’s all they have left to go after, so they go after it with gusto!
I’m not arguing against what you said. You are probably right
Again, someone else who thinks the plane is more important than the poor pilot who lost his life. D-Day veteran? Give me a break. About 70-80% of it will have been new-build!!!
I'm guessing you didn't watch the video before commenting. It's literally about ALL the men who flew Mk356.
Your artificial imagery is badly chosen.
MK356 had the normal elliptical wings, not the clipped ones.
It has had both at various stages it it’s career and has been displayed with both.
It certainly arrived in 1944 with the full elliptical wings. I chose clipped for the images based on display photos.
Stop flying these old aircraft. They are not airworthy and so few are left for our descendents.
They are absolutely airworthy and maintained to extremely high standards. Accidents happen for many reasons but not being airworthy isn’t one of them!
@@markhammerschmidt5315 I trained for 2 1/2 years in aviation maintenance. Planes that old are just too corroded and fatigue cracked not to mention the technology of the day was not that reliable. There aren't enough of these planes left and should be considered national treasures.
@@dwightnix893 there’s more spitfires now than there ever was. There’s literally dozens of them. They are meant to fly! Plenty already left in static displays in museums.
@@dwightnix893 you don’t know that metal fatigue caused this crash. Could just as easily have been pilot error or an engine malfunction (only one engine) so your 2.5 years of training is rather irrelevant as expertise to be frank. If you had 20-30 years of experience I might take what you say as having more substance. These AC are not flying around with 80 year old original corroded parts, most have been all but completely remanufactured for exactly that reason, and if you think the Royal Air Force would send up one of its pilots in a corroded AC then I respectfully suggest you think again!
@@markhammerschmidt5315 By the time production ended at Castle Bromwich in June 1945, a total of 12,129 Spitfires had been built. These included 921 Mk IIs, 4,489 Mk Vs, 5,665 Mk IXs, and 1,054 Mk XVIs. today, just a handful of these (around 60) are still airworthy.
imbittable.
Bit too quick out of the blocks with this one!
The Unit and Coningsby are still very much in mourning for the loss of Sqn Ldr Mark Long.
No one cares about the bloody aircraft! 👎🏻
Lincolnshire.
This video remembers all the men who flew MK356, many of whom also lost their lives.
Feck the plane, a person died.
I state this. Stop flying war birds. Simply stop. We lost a human being plus a valuable museum piece. Do we continuo to fly till they are all gone?
You are wrong. There are plenty of non-flying museum pieces.
@@steveperreira5850 Funny
Dude UA-cam is an escape from feminism not more of the same
Geez, I bet you're a real treat to be around.
this is a bit tacky..using a tragedy to get your you tube ad profile raised .....
Thanks for the feedback. At least now I know the names of the guys who flew this aircraft in 1944.
I don't believe you are going on about the aircraft when thr Pilot has died. At least wait until after the family have grieved and the full investigation has taken place.
There is a time for this and now isn't that time. There is no possible reason to publish this piece now.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Particularly when the armchair experts on here are slagging off the pilot when they have zero knowledge of the facts until the enquiry concludes. it makes me sick.
I appreciate your point of view Neil. If you don't want to watch the video you don't have to. I've made no mention of S/L Long except to report that he sadly passed away.
I have no regrets finding out about the No. 443 squadron chaps who flew MK356 over Normandy, many of whom also lost their lives.
Perhaps I am a little' desensitised' to reports of death. Every video I make is about one or more people losing their life and it never seems less tragic even after 80 years.
Flying will always be risky and people get killed. That is just a fact. I find nothing offensive or shameful at all in this video.
The people who flew this Spitfire especially in combat risked their life. Yet they did their duty knowing the risk. By comparison I am not at all impressed by keyboard warriors.
This is the first video I've watched on this channel. If I didn't like it I would just go away without leaving a "like". I wouldn't try to censor it. Nobody forced me (or you) to watch it.
And I echo the respect paid by the channel host to the pilots who flew this aircraft including Squadron Leader Mark Long.
@@RichNotWealthy I appreciate you saying this. Thank you.
19:38 NOT very frightening 😂
Had to be said.
Very sad.
These old airplanes were never designed and constructed to be used 80 years later.
There needs to be a facility were complete new-built replicas can be made.
It is vital to keep the memory and tradition alive. But it must be safe.
Flying these old relics is just an accident waiting to happen.
These are thoughts I've been harbouring, you sum it up perfectly. The cost of remaking new ones would be astronomical, but what's that compared to the loss of a precious historical war machine. If the planes were humans, they'd have been pensioned off and put on show as static memorials. It saddens me every time I hear of an incident like this. It's time to re-evaluate.
they are basically new built aircraft, they need a data plate from an historic aircraft gives them a permit to fly, otherwise they'd have to be certified as experimental aircraft which would be even more expensive to do.
i looked online at raf conningsby still has 6 bbmf spitfire so i think the mk356 spitfire is getting repaired soon